New Screening Test Uses Movement to Diagnose and Treat Autism

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Summary: Diagnosing autism has never been easy since screening tests relyon analyzing a child’s behavior. But researchers have a developed a new type of screening test that can both diagnose and treat the condition in kids over age three. What makes this new test so revolutionary is that it uses a much more objective measurement than current tests use: A child’s involuntary movements.

By Sharon Mazel | Posted: July 26, 2013

Autism— a developmental disorder that hinders communication and the ability to interact socially — affects approximately one in every 50 children in this country. Traditional tests to screen for the condition focus mostly on analyzing a child’s behavior (such as repetitive behaviors or misunderstanding social cues). The problem with such tests is that they’re based mostly on observation — a therapist asking a child questions and observing his social and communication skills. In other words, it’s very subjective. What’s more, treatment is difficult because it attempts to condition a child to reading external signals in order to behave in a socially acceptable way, as opposed to teaching the child self-motivating skills that will enable him to behave in a socially acceptable manner. That’s why a new screening test and treatment that promises to objectively diagnose the condition and then teach self-motivation is making headlines.

Scientist sat Rutgers University and Indiana School of Medicine developed a computerized tool that tracks and analyzes the pattern of a child’s random involuntary movements. Since children with autism don’t follow predictable patterns when it comes to involuntary movements, the experts were able to objectively diagnose the condition by looking at how much the patterns of motion of those with autism differed from those who were developing more typically. The researchers also conducted tests that found that this screening tool can be used as therapy, helping autistic children learn and communicate more effectively.

Here’s how it works: Sensors placed on an autistic child’s body measures 240measurements per second, capturing data on his involuntary random movements. Since those with autism have very different involuntary movements than those without the condition, the experts were able to determine who has the condition.

There searchers tested nearly 80 children and adults with autism (including those with mild and more severe forms of the condition) and found that the screening technique correctly diagnosed the patients each time. They published their findings in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.

They then used the test as an early intervention therapy for children by connecting the children to the sensors and giving them computer games to play. In the first game, they had to match two geometric shapes on the computer screen by pointing at the correct shape. When they performed the computer game task correctly, a fun video would play. In another game, the children had to figure out a position in the air to keep their hand, which would then prompt the video to play — sort of like when you play on the Wii. These games taught the children how to self-discover which movements they needed to do to get what they wanted. When the children returned weeks later to play the games, they remembered the simple motion they needed to do in order to get the videos to play on the screen.

What makes this type of treatment work? The ultimate goal of the treatment is to enable autistic children to learn socially acceptable behaviors on their own. If children are encouraged to perform certain tasks through self-motivation, rather than being told what to do, they’ll have an easier time self-motivating themselves to learn new things in general, including socially acceptable behaviors.

Some experts predict this new technique will revolutionize the way autism is detected and treated...but it’s likely to take a long time before the screening tool is available to therapists and doctors. Still, the researchers predict that parents of autistic children will be able to easily adopt the computerized methodology to work with their children, regardless of whether the methods become available publicly. If your child is autistic, speak to his therapist and doctor about this novel approach to find out if there’s a way you can adopt some of its techniques to help your child.

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